- Boulder Union is opening in late August at 174 Union St.
- The indoor climbing gym is owned by four longtime climbers, including an Olympics coach.
- The climbing gym will be open to people of all abilities.
At 174 Union St., the former New Bedford Institute for Savings building has created a new union with Boulder Union, a climbing and fitness facility downtown.
Founders Cody and Kaylee Grodzki, Evan Hanson and Amanda Desrosiers are partners in the business, as well as longtime climbers and friends.
Cody Grodzki, who grew up on Sconticut Neck and graduated from Fairhaven High School, started climbing in his late teens. He has climbed in a lot of cool places, met his wife Kaylee climbing, and started his own consultation firm focusing on operations and management for indoor rock-climbing.
After the Grodzkis moved to Mattapoisett in 2020, and he joined the local fire department, Cody started thinking about opening a small training space. But the more he thought about it, the more he wanted to open a climbing gym that would meet their expectations.
They needed a space that had a good floor plan combined with the height and the light in a building with high visibility on Union Street.
When Desrosiers, the owner of the People’s Pressed juice shop across the street, told him about the former bank building being available, they signed on. They’re getting ready to move in, excited to find the right location in downtown New Bedford to carry out their vision for the business.
The open floor plan with its 30-foot ceilings, tall arched windows and arched mezzanine that overlooks the lobby suits Boulder Union’s purposes.
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Boulder Union changes climbing routes every week
“I’m hoping to offer a little bit more authentic and experienced product, and that product is the climb,” he said. “At any given time, there will be somewhere between 50 to 100 boulder problems in the gym that people can climb. Every week, 25 or so of those climbs will be changed out and new climbs put up when the oldest are taken down.”
He said whether you’re an expert climber or are new to climbing, if you want a new experience or challenge, you can start anew every Monday.
“The climbing holds that we use are all the highest end, and other climbing areas do not have them,” he said. “They’ll be used at the Olympics in Paris. They’re used at the World Cup level, which, aside from the Olympics, is the highest level for climbing.”
The climbing area is on the first floor. Upstairs is the training room, with a fully adjustable climbing board that can be raised or lowered and is fixed with LED lights. He said in the training room there is a focus is on hand strength and power-to-weight ratio.
He said there is also a fitness area upstairs with treadmills, bench press and free weights to go along with their goal of living a healthy lifestyle.
Traveling the world, training Olympic climbing athletes
Grodzki said he has spent half his life living in the north and the other half living in the south, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and northern Georgia, working on routesetting, a main component of indoor rock-climbing.
He describes routesetting as actively attaching climbing bolts to the wall in certain paths and patterns for climbers to practice and grow on. He said the key to routesetting is changing the route, along with the level of difficulty.
“I teach them how to actively attach climbing bolts to the wall at height to create specific movements and patterns,” he said. “That’s a huge component of rock-climbing so that it’s not the same course every time.”
He’s an expert at it, and travels the world helping Olympians in the sport.
He works with Olympians as a private coach, and will be tracking the athletes he coaches as they compete in Paris starting this week. He is also a national chief instructor for USA Climbing, and along with about 10 others will travel around the country to climbing gyms to teach routesetting.
“I have been working with USA Climbing for pretty much my whole career in some form or fashion,” he said. “What I do with them is a lot of contract work, so I’ll do a lot of training. “
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He is also a national chief routesetter for USA Climbing along with about 15 others, so any time there’s a big competition he will get a call. He said he traveled about 300 days last year, but he loves it.
Paralympians participating in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles will be training with national chief instructors in the sport, and he will be working with them.
A rock-climbing facility for all abilities
Grodzki said he owes his life to climbing and wants to offer different groups the opportunity to help enact positive change through healthy living. He said people of all ages can learn to climb at Boulder Union.
“People who have differing abilities are not only welcome but are really encouraged to participate,” he said. “I don’t have all the best answers, but I know people who can help with that. It truly is for everybody.”
He said he and his partners have high standards, and safety will be key. At the same time, he said, anytime someone leaves the ground, there’s an inherent danger. They sought out the best designers so their gym is built for the future.
“There are all these factors that we have considered to make it as risk-averse as possible that you can make a sport,” he said.
There are orientation sessions for customers so they understand what’s being asked of them, including what to expect the first time, what they need to do and ultimately how they can grow as climbers.
Memberships are available, but there will also be day passes. Boulder Union will also rent out climbing shoes and climbing chalk, used to ensure a good grip on the handholds.
The history of 174 Union
The building opened its doors in 1897 as the new headquarters of the New Bedford Institute of Savings, previously located on William Street.
The neoclassical style of the 52,000-square-foot building is due to Boston architect Charles Brigham, who also designed the original building for the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Millicent Library and Fairhaven High School. The Montarenti marble in the main hall was shipped from Sienna, Italy.
The Ocean Explorium, including its Science on a Sphere exhibit, was once located at 174 Union but closed in 2015 after suffering financial setbacks. Buttonwood Park Zoo accepted the transfer of some of the marine life and habitats to the zoo.
Standard-Times staff writer Kathryn Gallerani can be reached at [email protected].
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